user
Describe how post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects someone's life


assistant
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can be triggered by experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event or ordeal. It can significantly impact how someone functions in their everyday life, making it difficult to maintain relationships, find steady employment, or even take care of basic needs such as eating, sleeping and bathing. Common symptoms of PTSD include recurring intrusive memories and nightmares, avoidance of places and activities that remind one of the traumatic event, nightmares or flashbacks, negative beliefs and feelings, heightened reactions to situations that trigger reminders of the trauma, and physical symptoms such as panic attacks. Sufferers of PTSD often find it difficult to regulate strong emotions, struggling to maintain relationships and often feeling disconnected from the world around them. PTSD can be a debilitating condition, but therapies such as cognitive-behavioral and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) can be very helpful in providing relief.